Ryan Bradley acquitted as father and brothers remain on trial
This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.
Ryan Bradley was acquitted of murder by direction of the judge on 9 July 2018. His father, Paul Bradley, and brothers Jason Bradley and Dean Bradley remained on trial over the death of Neil Reilly at Esker Glebe in Lucan on 18 January 2017.
Paul Bradley, Jason Bradley and Dean Bradley had pleaded not guilty to murder. The proceedings were reported on 9 July 2018.
Mr Justice Paul Coffey told the jury that the three remaining cases must be considered separately. The judge said Jason Bradley accepted inflicting seven fatal chop wounds on Mr Reilly. He told jurors to consider whether Jason had been provoked into losing all self-control, in which case they must find him guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. Jason owed Mr Reilly more than €9,000 for a drug debt, and Mr Reilly had fired two potentially lethal shots at the Bradley home.
Dean Bradley admitted driving a BMW that struck and went over Mr Reilly. A pathologist said a crushed pelvis consistent with being run over contributed to the death. The prosecution alleged Dean drove over him deliberately more than once. The defence said it happened once and was an accident: Dean had poor eyesight and Mr Reilly was lying in the road when he arrived at speed.
Paul Bradley admitted following Mr Reilly’s car in a jeep with Jason as his passenger. After the car crashed, Paul got out and kicked Mr Reilly while he was involved in an altercation with Jason. Mr Justice Coffey said the prosecution alleged Paul was involved in a joint enterprise with Jason, although he did nothing to directly cause the death. The judge outlined the intention and role the jury would have to establish for a murder conviction.
The judge had almost completed his directions, and the jury was due to begin considering its verdicts on Tuesday.
This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.